Poole Yacht Club Junior & Youth Regatta
by Fiona Rainback 11 Sep 2004 20:59 BST
Jamie Knill and Lewis Rumbol win the Mirror Youth Championships at the Poole Youth Regatta © Peter Newton
310 sailors aged 8 to 18, in 231 boats, took to the water over the weekend of the 4th/5th September for the Poole Yacht Club annual Junior and Youth Regatta. This year the event incorporated the Mirror Junior and Youth Championships. The event has become a must do for many young sailors each year, establishing the event as one of the biggest junior and youth sailing events in the country. Competitors travelled from as far a field as Jersey, Guernsey and Northumberland to compete and all agreed once again that the event was a huge success and a masterpiece of organisation. The event was sponsored by Turbo Service International Ltd and Lexus of Poole with many local companies donating prizes.
Racing took place on three courses. The main fleet Optimists (80 boats) and Mirrors (46) sailed a trapezoidal course. The Lasers (9), 420s (7), Cadets (16) and Toppers (25) a traditional triangle/sausage course and the less experienced Optimist (38) and Mirror (5) sailors a small inshore triangular course. By far the biggest fleet were the Optimists with 80 sailors on the start line. With light conditions forecast for the weekend, achieving the planed 6 races looked doubtful. However following a 3 hour postponement while the wind filled in, the start sequence for race 1 on Saturday finally got under way in a light force 1-2 sea breeze.
The standard of sailing and competitiveness of the fleets were such that both the I flag and black flag were in evidence for the first start. Several Mirror sailors fell foul of the I Flag and were recorded as OCS in the first race. The Optimist fleet finally got away after 3 general recalls. The Black Flag resulted in number of sailors sitting the race out as they had sailed in to the race area one minute before the start. This set the pattern for race 2 and race 3 on Saturday.
The Cadet, Topper, Laser and 420 fleets also completed 3 races on the Saturday. Their numbers were boosted by the support of Parkstone Yacht Club once again this year, with the cadet fleet enjoying some close and competitive racing during the day. The younger Mirror and Optimist sailors also completed 3 races on Saturday. Many of these youngsters have only been sailing since April, but they were clearly enjoying themselves, taking the racing very seriously.
Sunday was another warm and sunny day but the shifty sea breeze filled in more quickly so racing was able to start at around 1200. A wind shift during the start sequence of the second race for the Mirrors resulted in the start being abandoned and the course re-set. Race 6 once again saw the use of the I flag with 5 Mirrors recorded as OCS. One of these was unfortunately the event favourite leaving local Poole sailors Jamie Knill and Lewis Rumbol to take the Mirror Youth Champion title. Kate MacGregor and Emily Hunter also from Poole were the first Juniors. A similar use of the Black Flag in Race 6 for the Optimists resulted in the event leader missing out and local sailor Phil Sparks from Mudeford wining the event. The Cadet Class was won by Peter Lawrence and Chris Tierna from Parkstone YC and the Topper Class by Edward Lush also from Parkstone YC. The laser fleet was won by James Pipe and the 420s by Nerissa Booth and Lucy MacGregor. The Silver Mirrors were won by Peter Morgan and Sam Clemance and the Regatta Optimists by Sophie Boyle with local Poole YC sailor Kate Devereux aged 9 finishing a very credible 19th out of a total fleet of 38 sailors.
